Panama, Jack

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Sushi Boy

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
631
Reaction score
152
Location
Houston, TX
# of dives
1000 - 2499
CHUM is headed to Panama next April.

We’ll be departing on Saturday, April 18th 2015, returning either Saturday the 25th or Sunday the 26th, depending on your preference.

Where are we going? The Pacific side of Panama, specifically Santa Catalina, and then on to Isla Coiba.

It’s a bit of a trek from Panama City (5 hours) but that’s a big part of the appeal. Santa Catalina is a fishing and surfing village that’s literally at the end of the road. Once you get there, you can’t go any further. Unless of course, you hop in a boat for an hour’s trip to an island in the Coiba National Park and dive for 3 days in the remote locations of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, spending 2 nights at the ranger station on Isla Coiba.
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It has dorm style accommodations with six beds to a room. The rooms are comfortable yet basic each with shared restrooms (separate facilities for men & women); guests need to bring towels and toiletries.

Coiba offers incredible sightings year round of white tip sharks, many species of reef fish, eels, and also seahorses and frogfish. In April they usually still have thermoclines at depth, which brings pelagic stingrays, guitar sharks and electric rays. They also have had sightings of whale sharks, giant manta rays and mobula manta rays anywhere from November/December through March/April each year. Typical water temperature is warm at the surface and underwater (75-80F), with thermoclines starting at depths of 40-60 feet beginning in late January lasting through May (68-72F). The diving can be a bit on the challenging side sometimes, but anyone who has experience comfortably diving in the Flower Gardens or similar conditions should be fine.

If you're interested in joining us and want more information, please let me know.
 
Sounds like fun. You'll enjoy the quaint Town of Santa Catalina. I'm sure it has grown since I moved away from there in 2006. The diving at Coiba & surrounding islas & the other small coastal islands in the area are special and full of surprises. If you like sharks, lots of reef sharks. I remember in 2004 the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute published a study naming some 50+ species of hard & soft corals on Coiba. They even ID'd a new species.
Have fun, post a trip report & tons of photos.
 
We have pricing on the trip now. If you're interested in joining our Panamanian adventure, let me know & I can forward you the details.
 
April is getting closer by the day. Why not pencil in a spring vacation & join us for some awesome diving?
 
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